Shoptalk Fall 2024 Day Three: Tech and Personalization Power the Store Experience and Foster Customer Loyalty

Introduction

Coresight Research is a research partner of Shoptalk Fall 2024, which took place during October 16–18 in Chicago, Illinois. Shoptalk Fall is a new conference that builds on the success of the annual Shoptalk event held earlier in the year (which has been rebranded as Shoptalk Spring). The conference united executives from retailers, consumer-facing brands and technology vendors across both physical stores and e-commerce to discuss the latest trends, innovations and challenges in the industry.

This year, the conference covered six major themes in retail: conquering unified commerce; designing an optimal product assortment; developing efficient and successful teams and retail businesses; unlocking new growth opportunities; loyalty and brand trust; and AI (artificial intelligence) and the changing retail landscape. (Not all coverage reports cover all six themes.)

We present key insights from the third and final day of Shoptalk Fall 2024.

Groceryshop 2024 Day Three: Coresight Research Insights

1. Developing Efficient and Successful Teams and Retail Businesses

Unified commerce continued to be a key topic on day three, as we saw earlier in the conference. Discussing the technology stack needed to successfully unify physical and digital experiences, Dara Meath, SVP and Chief Technology Officer of Build-A-Bear Workshop, and Sam Buckingham, VP of Global Digital Product at KEEN Footwear, highlighted the importance of “innovative, flexible platforms.”

Meath detailed Build-A-Bear’s rapid, 90-day tech-transformation framework, which integrates seamless customer personalization across in-store and online touchpoints. Buckingham shared KEEN Footwear’s success in moving from costly, custom-built systems to more agile, cost-effective solutions such as Shopify. Both speakers emphasized the strategic use of AI in an integrated tech ecosystem as critical to enhancing operations and customer experience.

A surprising takeaway was how quickly companies are moving away from legacy systems to adopt “plug-and-play” technologies, drastically reducing costs and improving agility, with the implication being that businesses must prioritize flexibility, integration and continuous learning to stay competitive in a fast-evolving digital landscape.

Meath discusses Build-A-Bear’s 90-day tech-transformation framework
Source: Shoptalk Fall

 

In her mainstage keynote, Kecia Steelman, President & Chief Operating Officer of Ulta Beauty, highlighted the company’s involvement in the technology landscape, including the launch of its digital innovation fund, Prisma Ventures, in August 2022. The fund invests in early-stage technology startups whose solutions focus on developing online and in-store experiences, spanning robotics, gamification and skin-analysis tools.

Ulta Beauty looks to both humans and tech to “create delightful store experiences,” Steelman said, pointing to staff training as a fundamental component of building an engaging in-store journey. She discussed several training elements, from micro-training on personal devices up to management training.

Steelman also outlined the transformation of the beauty company from its inception during the heyday of shopping malls. She explained that alongside opening more stores in off-mall locations, Ulta Beauty’s culture has evolved from being a house of brands to “creating a more emotional connection with multiple generations of consumers.”

Steelman describes Ulta Beauty’s focus on technology and innovation
Source: Shoptalk Fall

 

2. Loyalty and Brand Trust

Also touching on the in-store experience, Ellen Bower, CEO of cosmetic dermatology company Ever/Body, and Anna Harmon, Co-Founder & CEO of ear-piercing provider and jewelry retailer Studs, discussed the evolution of physical retail spaces. Both speakers highlighted that their companies are creating environments that are warm, welcoming, and reflective of their customers’ needs and identities.

Bower and Harmon focused on how their brands are providing democratization and inclusivity for services that have been difficult to access traditionally, with Ever/Body seeking to broaden access to cosmetic dermatology, once seen as a niche, and Studs offering a modern, gender-neutral piercing experience that challenges traditional retail, with high-end piercing services that take piercing out of the tattoo parlor.

A significant takeaway from the session was the importance of personalization and education: Both companies prioritize building trust through educating their customers, ensuring individualized care, and using technology to support personalized services. One surprising insight was the heavy focus on organic growth strategies, such as word-of-mouth referrals and viral marketing (as opposed to paid marketing), which has led to significant customer engagement, according to Bower and Harmon.

Their insights reinforced that to stand out in today’s competitive landscape, next-generation brands must combine accessible, personalized services with strong in-store experiences, while maintaining brand authenticity and fostering customer trust.

Bower (left) discusses the importance of personalization and education with Alexa Tietjen, Content Director at Shoptalk (Interviewer; right)
Source: Shoptalk Fall

 

In a session focused on personalization tactics that increase customer loyalty and lifetime value, we heard about the power of data-driven strategies, seamless shopper experiences and employee engagement in fostering customer loyalty:

• Anne Smith, VP of Global Loyalty Marketing for Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott International, highlighted the importance of using both first-party and zero-party data (collected through quizzes and other engagements) to deliver personalized offers, creating create tailored experiences through dynamic content assembly. She described the company’s “First 100 Days” campaign, which focused on new member engagement through a target of activating members within their first 100 days. By encouraging app downloads and creating personalized communications based on user behavior, Marriot Bonvoy improved key metrics such as click-through rate, app downloads (increase of 14%) and revenue growth, according to Smith.
• Kyle Clark, SVP of Merchant Loyalty at Mastercard, shared a case study from a QSR (quick-service restaurant) where personalization strategies were used to optimize the drive-through experience. By using data such as purchase history and environmental context (e.g., weather), the QSR was able to offer personalized recommendations, reducing friction and improving sales. Clark encouraged companies to focus on emotional loyalty by aligning brand values with customers’ values and delivering consistent, personalized experiences across all touchpoints.
• Bradley Breuer, VP of Loyalty & CRM at PetSmart, emphasized the importance of personalized value, reporting that tailored offers and associate engagement through the company’s Treats Rewards loyalty program fueled 74% growth in member activation for PetSmart. The loyalty program uses data such as customer purchase history to predict needs (e.g., refilling pet supplies) and create in-app offers to drive spending.

Both speakers emphasized employee involvement, with Breuer explaining that PetSmart’s success with loyalty was significantly driven by associates who actively promoted the program, showing that personalization goes beyond technology to human connection. Businesses must invest in personalized, data-driven experiences while ensuring organizational alignment and empowering employees, as this holistic approach not only drives sales but deepens emotional loyalty. Overall, the session demonstrated that personalization, data-driven marketing and the strategic use of loyalty programs can significantly enhance customer engagement, loyalty and revenue.

Breuer describes PetSmart’s approach to personalization
Source: Shoptalk Fall

 

3. AI and the Changing Retail Landscape

A rapid-fire session with three investment firms—Bain Capital Ventures, Capitalize VC and ComCap LLC—on the role of AI and technology revealed excitement among the panelists about enhanced clienteling, loyalty, retail media, shopping agents that act on our behalf, and the marrying of inventory management and content creation with GenAI (generative AI).

Scott Friend, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, said that in retrospect, the introduction of the Internet and smartphones were not “frothy” (meaning overhyped) as it forced competitors to “tool up” their tech capabilities to compete; however, fundamental technologies today such as AI and LLMs (large language models) are viewed as frothy. Friend urged companies to develop workflows and functions around governance and compliance for large business users in order to be successful with AI and to combat the perception that the technology’s value is inflated.

The “Rapid-Fire Insights from Investors: Perspectives on the AI Landscape” session (left to right): Aron Bohlig, Founder & Managing Partner of ComCap LLC; Scott Friend, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures; Tessa Flippin, Founder & Managing Partner of Capitalize VC; Debra Aho Williamson, Founder & Chief Analyst, Sonata Insights (Interviewer)
Source: Shoptalk Fall

 

In a few sessions through the day, we heard from a number of speakers whose companies have successful deployed GenAI:

• Aurelian Lis, CEO of Dermalogica, explained that the company uses GenAI to screen terms for use in 88 different countries, in addition to using automatically translating internal documents into 30 languages for use around the world.
• Wei Manfredi, VP of Global Architecture, Data and Generative AI at McDonald’s Corporation, illustrated the fast-food chain’s use of GenAI to communicate with employees in their “most comfortable language,” and to upload a photo of a problem in the restaurant to generate a service request—with both initiatives resulting in increased productivity, according to Manfredi.
• Tess Kornfield, VP of Product & Data Science at ThredUp, outlined the use of GenAI to help customers shop, with ThredUp upgrading its prior text-based platform. She said that the company’s GenAI-powered visual search, image search and shopping chatbot functions have driven purchases and repeat visits.
• Wendi Eriksen, SVP and Chief Data Officer at The Wendy’s Company, described the implementation of voice ordering—in English and Spanish—at Wendy’s drive-throughs. She said that the massive complexity of the Wendy’s menu required a GenAI solution, rather than a rules-based solution. The team had to be agile and respond quickly, especially for limited-time promotions. A significant amount of change management was required as staff were initially nervous about the platform’s capabilities. However, Eriksen said that once employees became comfortable with the new system, it enabled them to spend more time with customers.

Lis explains how Dermalogica is tapping the power of GenAI
Source: Shoptalk Fall